from Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org)...

In July 1997, a youth by the name of Gidikumo Sule was killed by Mobile Police in Opuama, Delta State in the course of a dispute with a Chevron contractor. Opuama is one of the communities affected by a canal dredged by Chevron which has drastically affected the local hydrology, causing great damage to local fishing grounds. Accounts of the incident given by his colleagues and by Chevron, the oil company involved, differ. According to Chevron, a group of youths stopped a barge owned by Halliburton, a contractor, and blocked the access creek to a Chevron facility, demanding that the barge pay money to them in order to be allowed to pass through community waters. Money was paid, but when the barge attempted to return the same way, the youths again stormed the barge and forced it to return to their village.

By this account, two Nigerian police accompanying the barge radioed to their bases, notifying them of the situation. The crew were, however, taken hostage by the youths, relieved of their valuables, and the two policemen, who were armed, had their rifles taken from them.165 Mobile Police were sent to rescue the hostages in response to the radio call, and Gidikumo Sule was killed in this effort. According to Chevron, their community relations staff immediately went to the community to investigate the incident, and their understanding is that: "A death had resulted while the Nigeria Mobile Police were trying to free their colleagues who had been illegally detained by community youths after an attempt at extortion turned sour. This was, to us, entirely a Police affair. It had to do with the breaking of the law of the land."

Chevron says that they were asked for assistance to transport the corpse to Warri for burial and for other expenses, and that "we were at first reluctant, however, on grounds of compassion we yielded." They provided transportation and offered _250,000 (U.S.$2,780) to the family of the youth, "on compassionate grounds and nothing more."

According to one of the youths involved, however, the order of events was different. He stated that the barge had been stopped because Chevron had failed to employ any local youths during their operations close to the village, as they understood to have been agreed when the operations began several weeks earlier. While the protest was going on, Mobile Police had shot and killed Gidikumo Sule, and the protesters had then detained and beaten up the other police. The payment of money to the community was believed to be an attempt to silence the chiefs of the area, and the youths had not wanted the money to be accepted.

"No amount of intimidation or threats will stop our movement, because we are fighting for our rights: now is not a time for petition writing but for action." Chevron did not report to Human Rights Watch that the company had undertaken any sort of investigation into the methods used by the police, having determined that it was "a police affair," expressed any concern to the authorities about the actions of the Mobile Police that led to the death of the youth, or taken any steps to avoid a similar incident in future.